Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Reduces Holdings in ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC decreased its position in shares of ESAB Co. (NYSE:ESAB) by 30.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,369 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,849 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in ESAB were worth $8,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ESAB. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 302.6% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of ESAB during the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of ESAB by 57.9% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of ESAB in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in ESAB during the 4th quarter worth approximately $103,000. 91.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ESAB Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:ESAB traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $100.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,429. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.98, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.93. ESAB Co. has a 1 year low of $61.43 and a 1 year high of $114.77.

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $707.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $686.75 million. ESAB had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 8.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that ESAB Co. will post 4.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ESAB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of ESAB from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America upped their target price on ESAB from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on ESAB in a report on Thursday, June 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of ESAB from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.29.

ESAB Profile

ESAB Corporation engages in the formulation, development, manufacture, and supply of consumable products and equipment for use in cutting, joining, automated welding, and gas control equipment. Its comprehensive range of welding consumables includes electrodes, cored and solid wires, and fluxes using a range of specialty and other materials; and cutting consumables comprising electrodes, nozzles, shields, and tips.